Mark Buxton

âHe slipped a green carnation into his evening coat, fixed it in its place with a pin, and looked at himself in the glass, the long glass that stood near the window of his London bedroom. The summer evening was so bright that he could see his double clearly, even though it was just upon seven oâclock. There he stood in his favourite and most characteristic attitude, with his left knee slightly bent, and his arms hanging at his sides, gazing, as a woman gazes at herself before she starts for a party.â

In the 19th century the green carnation has been the distinctive mark of the bohemians and intellectuals, those mundane circles that debauched in the big arts. Is this how a gentleman smells? A dandy? A beautiful Dorian Gray?

The fragrance The Green Carnation is smoky green with a white vest. It’s created by the perfect perfumer for this genre: Mark Buxton. He has also made the first perfume for Friendly Fur, Ă Rebours.

For me The Green Carnation is a chilly incense scent. First I thought it smelled smoked. Not like smoked meat, but like the Chinese tea Lapsang Souchong, that has a smoky aroma and flavor. It gets its typical flavor being smoked with spruce wood or pinewood. Concerning The Green Carnation it is cedar wood, which reveals this impression to me in combination with incense. An intense pepper note activates every brain cell in a split-second and a dominant spicy vetiver note gives me the impression of licorice and eucalyptus, a little bit like Absinth. This green fay turns everybody’s head and has an extremely strong aura. You will definitely get a very strong presence with The Green Carnation. This scent leads and seduces. Like the beautiful man in front of the mirror striking a pose.

The flacon is an apothecary bottle with a dropper. A gentleman doesn’t vaporize, he applies his perfume. The fragrance comes with an authentic dried green carnation.

Today I want to present you the new perfume Ă Rebours by Friendly Fur. I was involved in the production process so far as Nikolas came to me several times to show me the different steps â briefing, packaging and finally the first draft of the perfume.

Ă Rebours (Against the Grain) was inspired by the famous same-named novel by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Whilst in the novel the central theme is decadence and the so called ‘ennuy’ (boreness), the perfume is completely different. No wonder, the perfumer who created Ă Rebours is no one else than Mark Buxton. The creative duo has conceived a scent that is clean and dirty at the same time. Like the wolf who has eaten Little Red Riding HoodâŠ well, we are talking about fox.

The famous perfumer Vero Kern once said âA good perfume always needs something dirty.â Ă Rebours has this dirty something. Under the green delicacy, whicht reminds me of dewy rose petals and the innocence of the mirabelle girl from the movie The Perfume, the scent has something really profound. To be concrete: civet and castoreum. Not too much, not too little.

The green tangerine that appears as one of the first impressions accompanied by bergarmot, is sourly fresh and blends with cardamom and rose. Freesia reveals a floral peak. In the heart the scent becomes rougher with seductive jasmin, leather and animalistic notes that appear softly, but are coated by the green tangerine. It’s not their time yet. This is saved for later, when oriental notes lay down on the forest floor.

Ă Rebours is always airy. The hesperidic notes are highly concentrated, which keeps the dirty notes tamed. The perfume is distinctive, but never dominant. You can wear it day and night.

It is very difficult to create a perfume that is something special, Ă Rebours is special.

At this point I would like to emphasize, that the fur used for the flacon-coating is made from Friendly Fur that results from over-population and controlled forest management supporting biodiversity.

Cologne Noire from the âCollection Extraordinaireâ by Van Cleef & Arpels is a composition created around the idea of the color black – an interesting dialogue between light and darkness, ease and depth. This scent definitely carries the seal of Mark Buxton, who has created Cologne Noire by using only the most precious ingredients.

Cologne Noire is a Casanova, who twists the women around his finger starting very innocent and fresh with a bergamot, neroli and tangerine opening. But suddenly â and this moment comes very quickly â the noble man pulls down the mask from his face and openly shows his passion. An herbal crescendo from ginger, black pepper and cardamom makes him irresistible. This man doesn’t need flowers, he directly gets the woman into bed. You can really smell the wood and the white sheets in the drydown.

I think there is frankincense too, which is perfect in combination with the woody smell of cedar. I just wanted to write this down for the Mark Buxton devotees and frankincense lovers, because it is not mentioned in the olfactory pyramid. My boyfriend, who is mad about frankincense scents has snitched my bottle immediately.

Men in wonderful suits can be very sexy. Notte Bianca, which means âsleepless nightâ, is the perfect scent for this outfit â an incredibly virile perfume that smells like clean white shirts and cigars.

During one of our legendary all night cooking-and-drinking-sessions my friend Anja and me became aware of a fresh snow note in Notte Bianca â nota bene, after two bottles of white wine. And indeed, the morning after this “Notte Bianca” experience I repeated the test and noticed that the perfume besides the warm cashmere wood note and the spicy tobacco flavor also gives you sort of a chilly feeling. Like clothes dried in cold winter air.

In the drydown Notte Bianca is cool like a drink on the rocks. But the bitter coolness is only one aspect that the perfume shows in different stages. The opening has an lemony-fruity freshness with a sweet note. At first, the sweetness of cashmere wood is very present. The heart note consists of a pulsating herb accord mixed with a Cohiba flavor. Later on a flamboyant base note out of absinth and grassy vetiver emerges. Edge and classiness dominate the scent. Behind its rough surface soft notes of tonka bean, musk and amber are hidden. In the morning the main theme, cashmere wood, reminds you of the night before and the sunrise tells you that it’s time to go to bed.

Mark Buxton managed to create an eccentric perfume. The black vial made from the finest French glass with an exotic African wenge wood cap is a wonderful design object and radiates understatement.